NetApp's Response to COVID-19

On behalf of the entire NetApp team, I want to express our heartfelt hope that each of you and your loved ones are safe and healthy and, where necessary, that you are receiving the care you need. You have my commitment that we will take every necessary step to be the best partner in this quickly changing situation.

The impacts of COVID-19 are evolving rapidly. I want to share the steps that NetApp has taken and continues to take to keep our team and communities safe, minimize the spread of COVID-19, and deliver on our business commitments to all our key stakeholders.

• In January, we put together a company-wide crisis management team to execute our Business Continuity Plan and prepare to mitigate COVID-19 impact. We activated our plan to enable us to continue to deliver products and services and minimize any disruptions that could impact you.
• Our leadership team is monitoring the situation daily to understand and mitigate impact to sales, global supply chain, and support and services as much as possible.
• We are continuing to put measures in place to keep our teams safe including requiring the majority of our global workforce to work from home using digital collaboration tools to continue conducting business.
• We are postponing events and in-person meetings at our briefing centers and are shifting to digital delivery wherever possible.
• Our Worldwide Services and Support team continues to provide support 24/7.
• We will continue closely monitoring the situation and are following guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and international and local health authorities in countries where we operate.

You can find more detail in our FAQ, which we will update regularly as new information is available. If you have questions, please direct them to: COVID_Response@netapp.com.

NetApp is committed to helping you navigate these uncertain times and prepare for what comes next. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to understand how our team, experience and solutions can help.

We are also committed to helping our communities and are matching employee donations to COVID response organizations around the world. We are also evaluating other ways to help the most vulnerable.

As I said to our internal team, I am confident that we will find ways to cope, endure and become even stronger. Already there are early signs of progress in some parts of the world. I am certain that there will be a brighter morning that follows this patch of darkness. It may take a little while getting there, but with hope, faith, courage, hard work and persistence, it will come. And we will be stronger together.

Sincerely,
George Kurian
CEO, NetApp

Updated on 3/31/2020

What is NetApp doing to protect its employees, partners and customers?

At NetApp, the health and safety of our employees, partners, and customers is our number one priority. Like all businesses, we are closely monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. We are following guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and international and local health authorities in countries where we operate.

Our goal is to reduce the risk that anyone at NetApp might contract or inadvertently spread the virus. We have taken the following proactive steps to protect ourselves and others and minimize the spread of COVID-19:

• Implemented work-from-home for the majority of locations in accordance with guidance from the CDC, WHO and local government and health authorities
• Travel freeze to or from high-risk countries
• Restricted all travel to business-critical activities with enhanced notification and approval requirements
• Access restrictions to NetApp facilities, including for employees and social and familial visitors
• Optimized all internal meetings for remote participation
• Meetings with customers, partners and other key stakeholders conducted virtually in high-risk areas

As can be expected, we are monitoring the situation closely and may implement further measures in coordination with best practices and updated guidance from the relevant authorities.

How is NetApp providing professional services and support to its customers during the COVID-19 pandemic?

• The NetApp Technical Support Center (TSC) is available 24/7, 365 days a year. We have 11 centers around the world. We also have a robust Business Continuity Plan that provides a remote or work-from-home capability for our support teams.
• We will continue to provide remote support to sites that do not permit physical access. As documented in NetApp’s support contract, appropriate remote access capabilities are required for remote support to be provided.
• NetApp has a highly distributed Professional Services workforce, including NetApp Residents. We will continue to dispatch resources/partners/contractors for services, including residents, to customer locations in countries, states or counties that do not have “shelter-in-place,” “lockdown” orders or other local restrictions. If a customer requests their staff to work from home, we will request our resources to do the same. If, however, the customer requests resources to be onsite routinely during a local shutdown order or while restrictions are in place, NetApp will not support that, but will continue to provide remote services. For restricted areas where allowed by the authorities, we will dispatch resources to customer site where safe to do so, however, only for business-critical tasks, and then will resume remote working. NetApp will work with relevant local authorities and partners to explore any possible exemptions to these orders for business critical tasks.
• If you are not already using Active IQ, NetApp strongly urges you to use it now. Active IQ helps automate the care and optimization of your NetApp environment leading to reduced risks, and higher availability as well as allowing remote support. Learn more about it here: https://mysupport.netapp.com/info/web/AboutAIQ.html

What are NetApp's current plans if supply chain disruptions affect NetApp’s ability to obtain hardware or replacement parts on time or at all?

• We continue to work closely with our component suppliers and our manufacturing, service, and logistics partners to monitor the situation, to assess the impact, and to implement mitigation plans related to COVID-19.
• Similar to other companies with global supply chains, we are experiencing extended lead times for some components.
• This situation is fluid, and we are monitoring it very closely. NetApp account representatives are providing specific information about open orders.
• NetApp is subject to local, state, and/or country policies that restrict manufacturing activities and the movement of people or goods within given areas. We are actively collaborating with our component suppliers and our manufacturing and logistics partners to mitigate impacts and disruptions from such policies as expeditiously as possible and to the best of our ability.
• NetApp customers can contact their NetApp sales representative or distributor for specific information about open orders or product lead times.
• We will provide updates as new information becomes available.

Does NetApp have enough parts to support its customers?

• Despite extended lead times for some components, to date, NetApp has not experienced shortages in materials for Return Material Authorizations (RMAs). However, this situation is fluid and we are monitoring it very closely. NetApp is subject to local, state and/or country policies that restrict manufacturing activities and movement of people or goods within given areas. We are actively collaborating with our component suppliers, manufacturing, and logistics partners to mitigate impacts and disruptions from such policies as expeditiously as possible and to the best of our ability.

Does NetApp provide essential services and critical infrastructure, as defined by US federal, state, and county rules?

Yes, NetApp provides ‘essential services’ and critical infrastructure under the definitions of most US and other government authorities. This includes:

• Providing critical global, national and local infrastructure for computing services (including cloud computing services), business infrastructure and critical manufacturing;
• Developing and manufacturing information technology hardware and software solutions that support critical infrastructure; and
• Providing services to maintain the availability of IT systems in critical industries, including government defense organizations